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Twtrsymphony

Last week I was watching TV and scrolling through my twitter feed when I came across something interesting. There was a mention of getting an audition ready for the twtrsymphony. Hmm, what in the world is the twtrsymphony? After a little poking around I got a good idea. The twtrsymphony is a social media experiment with the idea of how a symphony is put together. Instead of all of the musicians being in one space together the twtrsymphony wanted to see about putting together a group of musicians that were on twitter. By combining individual recordings done by musicians the composer would then sync them all together in one massive recording to make the symphony. It sounded kind of cool. After a short conversation I had a message from the composer in residence, did I want to audition?

I have been searching for an audition to do for months. Ever since things finally started to click back in the fall. The small problem is that most orchestras are still keeping open positions unfilled to save money. The music industry has taken a hard hit, and while things are slowly getting better auditions are still few and far between. So, did I want to audition? Sure, I’ll give it a try. Usually I get audition music up to a month in advance if not more. This time I had less than a week. Okay, I can do this! I think for once it actually helped to have less time. So, I practiced the same 140 notes over and over again (the idea is based on twitter’s 140 character limit). I recorded it, and listened objectively to where I needed to make adjustments. How was the sound quality, the dynamics, the rhythm, and the tempo? Finally last Sunday I was ready to start working on my “official” audition recording. In order to make sure that everyone was working with the same tempo the composer provided everyone with recordings that also included a metronome click track. It meant figuring out how to wear headphones while recording. I loved it! I had no idea how cool it would be have a click track in my ear while playing. Yes, it meant hearing intonation stuff was a little tricky, but the trade-off was getting all of the tempos, time changes, and rhythm right. I kind of wish I could have a click track all the time now 🙂

Auditions closed earlier this week for clarinets, all string instruments, harp, and piano. Out of 100 auditions 53 musicians from all over the country and world were offered positions with the group. This morning I found out that I am one of those 53 musicians! I’m looking forward to being a part of the orchestra and spending more time recording. It’s opened my eyes and ears to things in my own playing. Things that were just starting to make sense, and will make me an even better musician. Even better I have a successful audition under my belt. I want to do more! It makes me realize that I do belong in this industry, and hopeful that one day my dream job may just become a reality.

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4 thoughts on “Twtrsymphony”

We’re glad to have you on board! This is exciting and it’s just the beginning.

I hope more musicians can take a page from your book and discover they too belong in this industry. TwtrSymphony is trying to change the way we think about collaborating in the classical music world, but also about how we think about what music is for us both as musicians and as an audience.

TwtrSymphony is trying to change the way classical musician collaborate, but also the way we think about classical music as both listeners and performers. Twitter is all about the conversation – and so TwtrSymphony is all about the conversation of music. But not just limited to the conversation of musicians, but everyone who listens to our music.